In this Capstone you will recommend a business strategy based on a data model you’ve constructed. Using a data set designed by Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), you will implement quantitative models in spreadsheets to identify the best opportunities for success and minimizing risk. Using your newly acquired decision-making skills, you will structure a decision and present this course of action in a professional quality PowerPoint presentation which includes both data and data analysis from your quantitative models.
Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is the leading data research platform and business intelligence tool for over 30,000 corporate, academic, government and nonprofit clients in 33 countries. WRDS provides the user with one location to access over 200 terabytes of data across multiple disciplines including Accounting, Banking, Economics, ESG, Finance, Insurance, Marketing, and Statistics.

From the lesson

Step 3: Creating an optimal risky portfolio on the efficient frontier

In this module, you'll go beyond calculating simple returns to tackle the more advanced task of finding the minimum variance and "optimal risk portfolio" weights for a portfolio of selected securities (note, the "optimal risky portfolio" is also known as an "optimal portfolio" or "tangent portfolio"). You'll follow the tasks in Step 3 in the Project Prompt and use the resources below to calculate the portfolio weights for two securities that results in the portfolio with the minimum variance; then, you'll calculate the "optimal risky portfolio" on the efficient frontier for these same two securities, then for all 10 stocks in the pool. You'll be quizzed on your calculations and other insights that emerge from this exercise. The work you complete this week gives you practice in creating an optimal risky portfolio, which is a key component of your final project. Note: There are a number of resources available on the internet providing step-by-step instructions on how to use Excel to create an "optimal risky portfolio" on the efficient frontier given a certain set of available assets. We encourage you to attempt to use the skills you gained during the Specialization to work through these steps independently; you are, however, permitted to utilize third-party resources if you find it necessary. We've included some lectures from the underlying Specialization courses concerning Solver, optimization, and other relevant topics.